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18 Western Kentucky vs 19 Kent State
Overview 'Kent State @ Western Kentucky '''was a game taking place on November 27, 2021. Despite being a game on rivalry week that was expected to mean little coming into the season, became a chaotic battle between two unbeaten Group of Five Schools, Western Kentucky and Kent State, with the winner likely advancing to a New Year's Six Bowl Game pending the conference Championship games. Kent State, despite a major fourth quarter comeback from down 20-3 with 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, ultimately lost off a game winning Touchdown Pass from Sophomore Quarterback ''Chad Ohmer ''with just 15 seconds left to engineer a 27 to 24 victory. Kent State would proceed to win the Mid-American Conference Championship game over 9-3 Toledo by a score of 34 - 17, and would play in the TaxSlayer bowl against a 8-4, 25th Ranked LSU, where they would win by a game winning field goal. Kent State finished the season with a 13-1 overall record and finished ranked 20th in the AP Poll. Western Kentucky would proceed to win the Conference USA Championship over 23rd ranked, 10-2 UTEP, winning by a score of 44 - 28. Western Kentucky then played in the Sugar Bowl against 9th Ranked, ACC Runner Up NC State, winning in a stunning 23 - 20 victory. Western Kentucky put together the first unbeaten season at 14-0 since UCF did it in 2017, and Western Kentucky catapulted to 11th in the final AP Poll of the season. Game Summary First Half The first quarter of the game was a very defensive overall, with both Western Kentucky and Kent State trading punts back and forth. However, near the end of the first quarter, Western Kentucky jumped out to a 7 - 0 lead after a 13 yard touchdown pass to Wide Receiver Jacquez Sloan. The Hilltoppers dominated a large chunk of the second quarter, after an interception from Freshman Kent State Quarterback ''Charlie Hawley was returned to the end zone 37 yards for a pick six by Defensive Back Antwon Kincade. The Hilltoppers also tacked on a 39 yard field goal before halftime, courtesy of 5th year Senior Alex Rinella. Kent State went into halftime down 17 - 3 to Western Kentucky, with Kent State's lone points a long range field goal in the middle of the second quarter. Second Half The third quarter was also very defensive, similar in many ways to the first quarter, with the lone points another 20-yard field goal from Rinella. This left Kent State down by a score of 20-3 at the end of the third quarter, and the game was essentially "lost" for Kent State. However, early in the fourth quarter, Kent State hit (figurately) a "golden flash", scoring the first touchdown of the night off a 43 yard touchdown pass from Freshman QB Hawley to Junior WR Lamar Farris, bringing the game to a 20 - 10 margin. Kent State continued to catapult back into the game, thanks to an interception of QB Ohmer by Safety Mark Carter ''which led to another Hawley touchdown pass, this time to WR ''Johnathan Moore from 22 yards out with just under 7 minutes left in the game. Now down by just three points, Kent State got the ball back and scored off another Touchdown Pass from Hawley to Lamar Farris, giving Kent State a 24 - 20 lead, the only lead of the game Kent State would hold, with just 45 seconds left to spare. Kent State kicked an onside kick to recover and end the game, a very controversial decision. After some squabbling for the ball, a Hilltopper picked up the ball at the Kent State 42 yard line. At first sight, it appeared that the ball had tipped off the hand of a defender for Kent State, thus making it a live ball. Despite a lack of substantial video evidence, the play was kept as it stood and Western Kentucky got the ball. The Hilltoppers, with 45 seconds to work with and no timeouts, began to drive down the field. First was a 10 yard completion along the sideline to Jacquez Sloan, who promptly went out of bounds with 37 seconds left to play. Then, a 29-yard pass was thrown magnificently from QB Chad Ohmer to WR Tariq Young, setting up first and goal for Western Kentucky at the Kent State three yard line with 29 seconds left to play. The Hilltoppers originally attempted to run up the middle with stud Running Back Jakairi Moses, however, he was stopped for a 4 yard loss by the Kent State defense, and the clock running, Western Kentucky was forced to hurry and spike the ball with 13 seconds left. This prompted a third and goal from the Kent State 8, where an incompletion was thrown after a quick pass to the back right corner of the end zone. This left Western Kentucky with a 4th and goal with 5 seconds left and one last chance to score. On the play, QB Chad Ohmer threw a quick three yard dart to Tight End Kris Leach, giving Western Kentucky a 27-24 lead with the extra point. However, the Hilltoppers had left the Golden Flashes with three seconds to score, and the ensuing kickoff was kicked into the endzone for a touchback, giving Kent State one last chance from the Western Kentucky 25 yard line. Kent State QB Charlie Hawley made a long throw nearly to the end zone as time expired. Hawley's throw was several yards short, but was caught by big Tight End Nathan Monnin. Monnin was originally ruled as just short of the end zone, and despite witness accounts of Kent State players suggesting that Monnin had the tip of one foot in the end zone, the official replay did not show this, and the call stood as a catch at the Western Kentucky One yard line with no time to spare, handing Western Kentucky the 27 to 24 victory as nearly 20,000 Hilltopper fans stormed the field in celebration of Western Kentucky's first unbeaten season in 19 years and its first unbeaten season as a member of the FBS. Game Stats